"I felt I was walking in a different world. It was breathtaking," says one moviegoer after watching a trailer for Big Fish Begonia, a new animated movie, on a virtual reality headset in Beijing.

Enlight Media, which arranged the screening, is one of several studios using VR technology to promote movies in the Chinese mainland. Animated Bobby the Hedgehog and The Walk, the biopic about French high-wire artist Philippe Petit, were given the same treatment.

Yet the big question is, will this technology revolutionize the movie industry? Insiders offered their views at a Beijing International Film Festival forum.

Chen Qiyi, vice-president of Mili Pictures, says the technology will ultimately change the way movies are watched, as it will "turn viewers into the films' characters".

Li Jie, senior vice-president with Heyi Pictures, was also enthusiastic, predicting a boom in VR films over the next five years.

"Most global investors are putting up to 70 percent of their money into hardware development," he says, adding that the technology now is not good enough to provide a "comfortable" experience. The headsets and other equipment are too bulky, he adds.

However, some people are concerned VR could infringe on artistic elements.

"Feature films are a form of art. Directors tell stories through them and it would be weird to enter such a world," says Ding Liang, senior vice-president of Shenzhen Huaqiang Holdings Ltd.

(China Daily European Weekly 04/22/2016 page22)